Kristin Chenoweth reacts to early closure of Broadway musical ‘The Queen of Versailles’
After the production’s opening night drew mixed-to-negative reviews, it was announced that the musical ‘The Queen of Versailles’ will close less than three months after performances began.
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Whitney Leavitt is riding the wave of her controversial “Dancing with the Stars” run all the way to Broadway.
The “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star, 32, will play the role of Roxie Hart in “Chicago” on Broadway, she announced Dec. 1 on Instagram. Her stint in the storied musical will begin Feb. 2 at the Ambassador Theatre in New York City and run through March 15.
The announcement follows a tumultuous season on “DWTS,” where Leavitt impressed judges with her dancing chops but struggled against a tidal wave of online hate, some stemming from her actions filmed on previous seasons of “Mormon Wives.”
Despite strong technical skills, Leavitt was eliminated before the finals of “Dancing with the Stars,” failing to earn enough fan votes to advance to the end of the competition. Wildlife conservationist Robert Irwin ultimately nabbed the Mirrorball trophy.
Leavitt and her pro partner from the show, Mark Ballas, performed their final dance on an episode of “Call Her Daddy,” during which she recounted the difficulty of the show’s fanbase turning against her.
“I am used to the hate. And so with Season 1 and Season 2 of ‘Secret Lives and Mormon Wives’ being out, like I just didn’t think I was going to make it that far in ‘Dancing with the Stars’ because I already knew the persona that I had in the media,” she told host Alex Cooper. “So I didn’t think people were going to really vote for me.”
Her casting in “Chicago” finds easy roots in her time on “Dancing.” Mid-season, she and Ballas performed an Argentine Tango to “Cell Block Tango,” an iconic sequence from the show. It also slots into a growing trend on Broadway of outside celebrities dropping in for a guest-starring stint, some say to raise the profile of a struggling industry.
Leavitt follows in the footsteps of other celebrities who have played Roxie, including fellow reality TV stars Ariana Maddix, Erika Jayne and Lisa Rinna, as well as actress Melanie Griffith.
How to get tickets to ‘Chicago’
Tickets for the show are available now via the official “Chicago” musical website.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.usatoday.com ’
